Christmas Eve brings together Houston Jews, Muslims

About 50 Jews and Muslims will pray and light a menorah for Hanukkah during their interfaith Christmas Eve gathering.

On Christmas Eve, Jews and Muslims may find themselves with nothing to do while Christian neighbors plan fancy dinners and special church services.

For the past two years, the Jewish and Muslim communities in Houston have taken advantage of their free schedules to gather together to learn about each others’ traditions and find commonalities as minority faiths.

“We’re doing it on an evening when we feel a little out of place,” said Rabbi Steve Gross, of the Houston Congregation for Reform Judaism. “Not that we have anything against Christmas and all the hoopla around it, it’s just that during this time of year we are acutely aware of own religious identity and that our celebration is different.”

The 50-person event, to be held at Masjid at-Taqwa in Sugar Land this year, is one of only a few examples programming that draws Jews and Muslims together around Christmas.

“I think it’s amazing we use Christmas as a platform for Jews and Muslims to get together,” said Shariq Ghani, a Muslim community leader helping to organize the event. “It shows solidarity as Abrahamic faiths.”

During the event, Muslims will pray their evening prayers, like they do every night, and Jews will light a menorah for the fifth night of Hanukkah.

In smaller groups, the participants will discuss their traditions and stereotyping, over a meal of latkes and Pakistani treats.

Though the two faith traditions may have political and religious differences, “it’s difficult to hate people who have a name and a face and talk to you and cook good food,” said Ghani.

Gross and Ghani, the president of Crescent Youth, met through an interfaith program and came up with the idea for a Christmas Eve event last year. The two communities met at a synagogue for the inaugural event, where they introduced each other to their faith’s practices.

For nearly all of the Muslims, it was the first time they’d been in a synagogue; for the Jews, the first time they’d spoken in-depth with a follower of Islam, Ghani said. And yet, the event was a success. Blogger Jill Carroll covered the event in her post “Have Yourself a Merry Muslim-Jewish Sabbath Christmas Eve.”

This year, Gross and Ghani have planned several follow-up community service activities and youth programs to keep the interaction going beyond their Dec. 24 meetup.

Gross said that yes, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are when most Jewish families will eat Chinese and go to the movies. Ghani said his family does barbeque.

Although Islam recognizes Jesus as an “all-star prophet,” Muslim families don’t celebrate Christmas and usually skip the secular side of the holiday, too.

“I grew up believing in Santa and asking my mom, ‘Why doesn’t Santa come to my house?’ Once I learned more about Islam, I knew why,” said Ghani, a native of Fort Bend. “The youth today have a greater understanding of the different traditions of the faiths.”

Despite the religious diversity in the Houston area, interfaith relations aren’t perfect. The regional chapter of the Anti-Defamation League continues to collect reports of slurs and discriminatory remarks against Jews and other groups. Muslims in Houston face mosque vandalism and violence.

Organizers of the Christmas Eve event see their participants going beyond surface-level dialogue to really enrich relations on behalf of Jews and Muslims across the city.

“Usually you hear about Muslims and Jews at odds with each other, but here’s an example of us coming together for good,” Gross said.

James makes a great point. How you greet someone for the holidays should acknowledge THEIR faith, not your own. If you know that someone is Christian, by all means wish them Merry Christmas. By that same token, if you know that someone is not Christian, wish them Happy Holidays.

What it comes down to is why are you greeting them. A greeting should be magnanimous. If it’s all about YOU, it’s not worth much anyway.

because most places are closed on christmas eve as well as christmas day, so most people not celebrating would probably be at home anyways. thats why these jews and muslims took that time to spend it together in their places of worship instead of at home

Kate, I may be wrong but it sure seems like you’re ardently trying to incite hatred towards Christians. You do have a rather dedicated following too. Are you now hoping that the Jews and the Muslims will band together against the hated Christians?

What part of this article do you interpret as “trying to incite hatred towards Christians”? It’s about people of faiths that don’t get along with each other taking an opportunity to get together and break down some barriers. What part of your comment do you interpret as making you a good follower of Christ? Isn’t he called the “Prince of Peace”? Don’t you think that your Christ would be happy to see people coming together in a peaceful gathering to learn that they might be able to get along better? Don’t you think your Christ would think this might be a good thing to do while his followers are all celebrating his birth? Just, wow, at your comment.

Being Catholic growing up around Jews, I never saw worries about Christmas or Hanukkah. The handful of Hindus and Buddhists? No worries in late December, either. Welcome to the party, anyone else! Have some egg nog!

I hope that Christians and Jews remember these verses from the Qur’an:
The unbelievers are stupid; urge the Muslims to fight them (8:65)
Muslims must not take the infidels as friends (3:28)
Terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Qur’an (8:12)
Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels (8:60)
Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them (2:191)
Make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood (9:123)
When opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you catch them (9:5)
Kill the Jews and the Christians if they do not convert to Islam or refuse to pay Jizya tax (9:29)
Any religion other than Islam is not acceptable (3:85)
The Jews and the Christians are perverts; fight them (9:30)
Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam. (5:33)
The infidels are unclean; do not let them into a mosque (9:28)

These verses, and others, are the basis of the worldwide Islamic Jihad against the infidel.
Merry Christmas!

And Exodus 22:18 “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (KJV)is the basis for the Christian war against paganism for centuries, as well as the torture and killing of many innocents in so-called “witch trials”. But have a Blessed Yule anyway!

I wish all faith would just come together and see that we are the same. We all worship and want to have a good life, with health and well being for our family. All faith just want to be able to love and worship the Lo-d their own way without someone telling them they are wrong.

Who to say who is right and who is wrong? The mean thing in life is that you love and worship the Lo-d and learn to take care of your own family.

The sad part is some people want to push their way worship on others.
This needs to stop!

Just remember we are just people living in the same world, and the Lo-d loves all of us, as we should all love him. And stop killing each other over who way of worship is the right way!

Peace on EARTH,,,No matter your beliefs ..Whether ALA,. or Jesus or whatever..God in any religion would be a loving and peaceful forgiving GOD..Let all humanity beware of false idols! Idols who would preach violence ,..or hatred!

Feels good knowing that different faith groups are using this time of year in which both parties feel as a minority to their advantage. They’re strengthening both their communities by creating a bond with one another!